A French Navy sailor has inadvertently disclosed the location of the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle by recording and uploading a running session on the deck to the fitness app Strava.
The incident occurred as the carrier strike group was redeployed from the Baltic Sea to the Mediterranean following an announcement by French President Emmanuel Macron, who ordered the move to support allies amid tensions in the Middle East.
While the presence of the French naval group in the region was not classified, the exact location of the vessel became traceable after the sailor logged a 7 km run in 35 minutes using a smartwatch connected to a publicly accessible Strava account.
The shared data allowed all users to view the GPS track of his run in open sea, enabling observers to pinpoint the carrier’s position northwest of Cyprus in near real time.
Journalists found that the user’s profile was set to public, making the activity visible to anyone and effectively exposing the movements of one of France’s most strategic military assets.
The Charles de Gaulle is the only nuclear-powered aircraft carrier outside the United States Navy. French military authorities acknowledged the breach, stating that such behavior does not comply with operational security rules and that personnel are regularly briefed on these risks. They added that appropriate measures would be taken in response to the incident.
